Sunday, April 26, 2009

Question Answered

A lady asked a question on my blog about Sisterlocks. Her name is Cdominica. I'm feel humbled to be asked a question in that I'm only 9 months into my journey and still read so many of my favorites to become knowledgable about this journey. Anyway, she wanted to know about not having to cut her permed hair off. On the Sisterlock website you'll have to search a bit to find the FAQ section. Here is the excerpt from the Sisterlock website to answer that question:

Q: Do I have to cut my relaxer off in order to get my hair done in Sisterlocks?
One of the great things about Sisterlocks is that you don't have to cut off your relaxer in order to start them. All you need is 1½ inches of new growth at the scalp to start the locks. Then you can trim the relaxed ends gradually over time as your natural locks grow in. There are some things to watch for here though. For example, if you have a relaxer you know that when you let your natural hair grow in at the scalp you increase the chances of breakage. You will need to take measures to protect your hair while you're letting the natural hair grow in. Some options during this transition period are: · braided extensions; · natural braided styles; · frequent moisturizing and conditioning; · always dampening the hair before combing through it; · gently finger-combing only for de-tangling and styling. Once the locks are put in, work closely with your Consultant to ensure that the relaxed ends stay as smooth as possible during your transition into fully natural locks.

That should answer your question. Also be mindful that some consultant may require a little more natural hair to start the locking process. I am now 9 months into my journey and will have my new consultant Gregory Day start cutting an inch every now and then off my past the shoulder length hair. In my pictures it looks like my hair is shoulder length, but it's actually longer than that when pulled straight down. Also I had decided to DIY. I purchased the Nappylock tool and have retightened some of my locks. I accidently combined some and had to call Gregory Day to fix them. He did on Friday and we had a mini-consultation. He has 14 years of experience providing Sisterlock services. Since my wonderful consultant Therza moved back to Memphis, I had to find an alternative or DIY. I will still keeping working on doing some DIY, but will see Gregory Day to do most of the maintaining. He's no longer listed on the Sisterlock website. I asked him why, on Friday and he just decided not to recert. His shop is located in South Austin and named "Your Best Image", 512-280-3731. His shop is nice and very pleasant. After he fixed my combined locks for me, he retightened them with his Sisterlock tool, can you say gentle hand. That is key folks because my last retightening session (not with Gregory Day or Therza), was so painful and that was part of the reason why I had considered doing my own retightenings.

So hopefully this helps answer this lady's questions. Good luck to you on starting your own journey. Any one else living in the Austin and surrounding areas, we should consider a natural hair meet up. I know on the Lock It Up yahoo group, folks all over the place have done these meet ups and have a great time. Austin needs to step up (LOL).


Love, peace, and no hair grease.

2 comments:

C. Dominica said...

Thank you for answering my questions. It was VERY helpful. I just had a relaxer retouch at the end of April, but I think I will let it grow now. Hopefully, by the end of the summer I'll have enough new growth for a consultation. I would love to get together with others in the Austin area and share experiences, learn to DIY or help others. I wore a natural ponytail several years ago (before a lot of people were going natural). It would have helped to have others to learn from and bounce ideas off of. Thank you again, and I will certainly let you know if I decide to lock. -C.Dominica

C. Dominica said...

Hi,
I want to thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions about Sisterlocks. I am happy to let your readers know (you already know) that I did indeed join the Sisterlocks family. My hair was locked by Kenya Austin in Bryan, TX on Oct 3-4th.
-Dominica